Towing 35,100 pounds in the 2019 Ram Heavy Duty truck

[MUSIC] A full-size pickup truck offers enough utility for the average truck buyer. But let's say you need to tow more than, I don't know, 12,000 pounds? You, my friend, need a heavy duty, and Ram has given us one doozy of a heavy duty pickup that can tow, get this, 35,100 pounds. And I wanted to drive it so much, I came out here to the desert outside of Vegas in this supremely crappy weather, So come on in and let's see how she do! [MUSIC] Now, you might have noticed that I'm in a different vehicle. That's because, in order to get that awesome 351,000 pound tow rating You actually need to have a very specific configuration. So here we're in a single cab, tradesman 3500 with 4x2. That's right, no 4x4 but that gives me that awesome tow rating plus 7,680 pounds of payload although, not at the same time. So whatever this truck is missing in amenities, it does have what counts under the hood. Namely Only the six point seven meters high output Cummings turbo diesel engine good for 400 horsepower and 1000. Yes 1000 pound feet of torque America. [MUSIC] So this is the first time I've towed 35,000 pounds, and I thought I was going to be able to feel all of that weight back there and I can, but it's honestly not as bad as- As I thought it was gonna be. And we're going down a 5-6% grade here. And the brakes have been reworked for this year so that they're bigger, and I don't have to put as much force on the pedal to bring this thing to a stop which is good because now instead of just raining, it's The right on this is pretty compliant. But I mean, yeah, I can feel that they've got a giant heavy duty axle and leaf springs back there. But I've also got the frequency response dampening shocks. So in the valving that helps to control for that up and down wheel movement. So it's not exactly like sports car handling. I mean, far from it. But it actually is less bouncy than I thought it was gonna be. If you want to make the ride even more cushy, you can opt for the optional air suspension. That's three-way adjustable, and it helps keep your truck level no matter what kind of load you're carrying. Now the Ram has got a lot of driver's aid, but they're optional, but they work with the trailer. So forward emergency breaking works with the trailer. Adaptive cruise control, it could bring you all the way down to a stop. Yeah, that works with the trailer. I mean, I'm not sure I wanna give up control with this much load behind me, but, hey, option's there. You do your Blind spot monitoring is also available, but what's really weird is that it just covers the truck, not the trailer. This has got so many available options, it's kind of a glaring omission. Now, you can get around that with the optional 360 degree, Degree camera system, where you've got four different cameras. Now this one unfortunately, all I've got is the rear camera. But you can also get cameras in the bed, and you can get a camera on each side mirror. So that helps you see the whole length of the trailer, which is really nice. There's also an optional auxiliary camera that you can put inside your trailer. So you can keep an eye on your horses or racecars or whatever it is that you're hauling around. Although this particular truck doesn't have it, that awesome 12-inch screen is available across all trim. So you can get a base truck with that 12-inch screen running the excellent U-Connect system. [MUSIC] So what if you don't need all of this capability? I mean, 1,000 pound feet of torque is a lot. Well, there is also a 6.7 liter means turbo diesel regular output engine which is good for 370 horsepower and 850 pound feed of torque which is nothing to really shake a stick at. And then the standard engine is the 6.4 liter v8 410 horsepower and 429 feet of torque. So with this high output diesel engine you get a. Six speed automatic transmission. So right now I'm going up a 5, 6% grade. And let's see. We're at 35 miles an hour, RPMs are right around two grand. Foot is pretty much to the floor and it's not downshifting at all. So you do take a penalty because you have so much weight back there. But with lighter loads, obviously, you're gonna be able to go faster. [UNKNOWN]. And really, how fast do you want to go with this much weight behind you. The good news is that the brakes have been redone for this year as well, so they're bigger and it requires less force on the pedals. So it's easier to come to a nice full and complete stop, which inspires a lot of confidence because now it's raining slash snowing. Way great. So while this Tradesman is a base truck of course you gotta add on a lot of extras to make it do the things that you want it do. So this one comes in at about $58,000. Having said that it's really amazing how easy it is to tow with this. I mean I feel actually almost comfortable which is really surprising I was nervous. Promised at the beginning of the day. And now I feel like an old pro. [MUSIC] A base Tradesman in 2500 trim is. [MUSIC] actually a really good value, starting at just over $33,000. But this guy here? This is an upper Laramie trim, it's got the mega cab, it's got 4x4, and it has the premium of over $11,000 to the high-output diesel. So in total, this truck right here? $84,370. Now I really, really like this truck, but man They just don't price them like they used to. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]